Tick Bite Fever

'Matchlessly witty-one of the country's funniest writers.' Steven Poole, The Guardian

A hilarious memoir...Enchanting and amazing

Laugh out loud is an understatement...a wonderful insight into life in Africa from a two-foot high point of view, witty, touching and above all affectionate

Tick Bite Fever itches with mordant wit - there's at least one turn of phrase per paragraph that gets among your ribs like a feather duster. An excellent memoir

Exotic hats off to David Bennun, who has written a book full of warmth and self-deprecating humour

Matchlessly witty-one of the country's funniest writers.

Born in Swindon in 1968, Dave Bennun's family moved to Zambia in 1971. In 1973 the family moved to Kenya where they lived for the next 16 years. He has worked at Melody Maker and at Loaded. He is now freelance and writes for The Guardian, Observer, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph and GQ.

Tick Bite Fever is the unconventional memoir of a very unconventional childhood. 
 
In the early Seventies, Dave Bennun's family transplanted themselves from Swindon to the wilds of Kenya. His father, who was a doctor, had lived in Africa before (but had felt it expedient to leave when the South African government realised he was carting explosives around in the boot of his car for the ANC). For Dave, Kenya was bemusingly new. It would be his home for the next 16 years. 
 
In Kenya, the childhood memoir takes on a rather surreal tone! On the way home from school, closed because a pair of lions are padding around the playground, Dave is mugged by baboons. Meet Dave's favourite pet Achilles, the almost indestructible dog! Find out about 'Nairobi snow' - and the national radio station that only has three records. And read about Dave and his Dad spending happy Sunday afternoons being chased by a herd of elephants. Enchantingly funny, Tick Bite Fever is a tale of the fading innocence of childhood, miles ahead of the competition.

David Bennun

Bennun's writing is often so funny you will find it hard not to laugh out loud.

With wit as sharp as a samurai sword, Bennun dissects the country he encounters

An excellent satire on British life....Fast becoming known for being able to capture the life and times of a nation with hilarious succinctness, he now guides us on a rolling rendition of Britain....All of this would be damned offensive to our British pride if it were no so damned hilarious and so inarguably spot-on....A nostalgic trip as well as a thoughtful look at Britain without the spin

A fantastically fun account of Britain and its foibles

David Bennun had lived in Africa his whole life. At the age of 18 he came to Britain, the mother country. The country he had read about in Punch magazine or seen in films like Chariots of Fire. He was in for a shock. A very big shock indeed: 'I could not have been less prepared had I spent my life up to that point listening to 30-year-old broadcasts of the Light Programme.' 
 
In this timely follow-up to the critically acclaimed Tick Bite Fever, David Bennun shows us our own country through the eyes of an alien. With his brilliantly witty turn of phrase we follow his life as a student, his brushes with Bohemia, his troubles renting and buying property, his discovery of British food and his horrors at entering the world of work. From DIY to architecture, sport to alcohol, transport to music and entertainment, David Bennun brilliantly and with ruthless wit deconstructs all these subjects, many of them so dear to the British heart.

David Bennun

Praise for British As A Second Language

Bennun's writing is often so funny you will find it hard not to laugh out loud.

With wit as sharp as a samurai sword, Bennun dissects the country he encounters

An excellent satire on British life....Fast becoming known for being able to capture the life and times of a nation with hilarious succinctness, he now guides us on a rolling rendition of Britain....All of this woul ...

Bennun's writing is often so funny you will find it hard not to laugh out loud.

With wit as sharp as a samurai sword, Bennun dissects the country he encounters

An excellent satire on British life....Fast becoming known for being able to capture the life and times of a nation with hilarious succinctness, he now guides us on a rolling rendition of Britain....All of this woul ...

Bennun's writing is often so funny you will find it hard not to laugh out loud.

With wit as sharp as a samurai sword, Bennun dissects the country he encounters

An excellent satire on British life....Fast becoming known for being able to capture the life and times of a nation with hilarious succinctness, he now guides us on a rolling rendition of Britain....All of this woul ...

Books by David Bennun

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